Romania – Netherlands: Dutch Quality Prevails Amidst Romanian Efforts (0-3)

Out to take revenge for their previous game, the Dutch team got their act together and showed just how attractive they can play. Romania’s brave high press faded after the opening goal, and a rather one-sided match was mostly tense because the Dutch kept missing chances.

Tactical analysis and match report by Sander IJtsma.

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Romania and The Netherlands entered this match with very different mindsets. While Romania took joy and pride out of winning group E – albeit in a strange four-teams-on-four-points situation – The Netherlands were in turmoil. Their performance against Austria was considered a total tactical failure, with individual player quality unable to paper over the many cracks this time. Koeman’s position as national manager was already under scrutiny, even with the team still in the tournament.

Romania manager Edward Iordanescu is in a totally different position. His two-year reign led to the first major international tournament qualification in 24 years, and taking the crown in group E can be considered a huge surprise. He set his team up in a 4-3-3 formation that morphed into a 4-1-4-1 off the ball. Nicusor Bancu was suspended, which meant Vasile Mogos came in as the starting left-back.

Koeman changed his team on three spots. Tijjani Reinders started in the double pivot next to Jerdy Schouten, with Joey Veerman – axed in the previous game – starting from the bench. Xavi Simons started as the number ten, with a surprise start for Steven Bergwijn on the – for him not quite usual – right wing. Denzel Dumfries returned as the starting right-back after regaining full fitness.

Romania and the Netherlands entered this match with very different mindsets. While Romania took joy and pride from winning Group E – albeit in a strange four-teams-on-four-points situation – the Netherlands were in turmoil. Their performance against Austria was considered a total tactical failure, with individual player quality unable to paper over the many cracks this time. Koeman’s position as national manager was already under scrutiny, even with the team still in the tournament.

Early Romanian Pressure

Romania started the game positively, pressing the Dutch high up the pitch with vocal support from their fans decked out in classic yellow to match the all-yellow kit. Manager Iordanescu was very involved from the sideline, encouraging a high stance and press, which even carried on into the Dutch box and towards goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.

Rather than in their last game, against Austria, the Dutch player remained calm under pressure and only resorted to long balls when all other options were impossible. Romania’s early pressure was brave and initially pretty well-executed, but it only amounted to a handful of dribbles by Dennis Man who very stopped quite easily, and one fourteenth minute long-range shot which flew over the crossbar. 

Dutch Breakthrough

As the game settled down, the Dutch adopted a situational 3-2-5 formation, with players occupying all five lanes on the pitch. Nominal right-back Dumfries took up his well-known advanced wide role, with Bergwijn operating in the right halfspace. Xavi Simons drifted out left to create the box midfield that Koeman loves to see. Memphis operated more centrally, while Gakpo stuck to the left byline.

Minute 20, leading up to the Gakpo opening goal. Bergwijn moved inside, with Dumfries on the overlap, dragging Romania’s left flank out of position. Razvan Marin and Stanciu attempt to press Schouten and Reijnders, with Marius Marin also stepping up. This opens up tons of space for Simons and Schouten finds him with a delicate vertical pass.

This setup was crucial in the build-up to the opening goal in the 19th minute. Both Stanciu and Razvan Marin – Romania’s central midfielders – were drawn in by the Dutch double pivot, and holding midfielder Marius Marin got stranded in no man’s land. With box Simons and Bergwijn operating in his defensive zone, he was constantly confronted with problematic choices defensively.

Xavi Simons, who played an extremely good game, displayed a combination of great positional awareness and quick decision-making, to find acres of space and execute a perfect one-touch control-and-turn. Cody Gakpo cut inside from the touchline, exploited the ten-yard marking distance from Andrei Ratiu and unleashed a perfectly placed power shot into the near post, to open the score with his third goal of EURO 2024.

Tactical Shift and Dutch Dominance

The goal forced Romania into a more compressed and tighter defensive block, allowing the Dutch to circulate the ball patiently at the back and pick their moments. This period saw a series of smaller chances for the Netherlands, including long-range shots, various corners, and a very close header from Stefan de Vrij. A notable defensive moment for Romania came when Dragusin made a last-ditch clearance off a Dumfries cross, preventing a Memphis tap-in. 

The faded Romanian pressure was reflected in the high pass completion rates of the Dutch double pivot, with Schouten completing all but three of his 53 passes and Reijnders following suit with 69 completed passes out of 72 played. With the Romanians – understandably – more compact now, the pattern of the rest of the match was quite constant. Patient Dutch ball circulation, shifting players into their clearly rehearsed offensive setup to overload Marius Marin in the space between Romania’s backs of four. Then followed moments of acceleration from vertical passing and quick combinations leading to an array of chances.

Second Half Developments

Romania increased their pressure in the second half, driven by a sense of urgency and probably re-instructed to do so by manager Iordanescu. Their pressure was less extreme and was no longer carried out deep into the Dutch box. This opened up space for vertical passes in midfield, with the defensive line shy to operate as high up as this level of pressing would probably command. Long midfield runs like Reijnders in the 50th minute and Gakpo in the 62nd minute illustrated the vast amounts of space available to play in.

Despite the close scoreline, the game was far from evenly contested. Romania managed only one attempt in the second half – a blocked shot attempt by striker Denis Dragus in the 59th minute – and failed to create any attempts in the final thirty minutes. 

With various key players like Schouten, Reijnders and Simons on song, the performance of striker Memphis was another mixed bag at best. His hold-up play and drifting movements into the ten space were effective, but his passing and set-piece delivery were absolutely off. Missing all three of his relatively good second half chances didn’t favor things either. His best attempt came from a smart low free-kick in the 67th minute, which went centimeters wide. 

Tactical Constraints and Final Breakthrough

Romania’s 4-1-4-1 formation required compactness between the two banks of four, and as a result, they had an exceedingly hard time putting pressure on their opponent’s and regaining possession. In possession, the 4-1-4-1 setup presents a challenge as well, with a lack of proper outlets, limiting their ability to build attacks.

Most of the time, with a lack of flank outlets, their possession spells allowed enough time for the Dutch to cover up with a moderate degree of counter pressure, leading to short and inefficient spells of Romanian possession, which only led to something through isolated cases of successful hero-ball by players like Dennis Man and Ianis Hagi.

With the Romanians taking more and more risks, the Dutch finally sealed the win in the 83rd minute, when half-time substitute Malen tapped in a great short cutback cross from Gakpo. A well-earned second goal for the Netherlands. As an icing on the cake, Malen added a second goal on the break with a nice cut inside to finish at the near post.

Takeaways

No tournament exit is a positive thing. As such, the Romanians have every right for short-term disappointment. Zooming out from that, however, they’ve qualified for a major international tournament for the first time after a seriously long absence, and given a good account of themselves. This campaign should provide fuel for the positive developments in Romanian football recently.

In some ways, this was Ronald Koeman’s revenge. The abysmal showing against Austria went without major consequences; if anything it ironically put the Dutch in a very favorable position in the bracket. The Netherlands outplayed Romania in all facets of the game, and will enter the quarter final against Türkiye as clear favorites.

We decided to make all of our EURO 2024 articles free to read. If you want to support our work, consider taking a subscription.

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